Wednesday, 31 December 2014

Now that Taliban & ISIS have
shown the extent of their endless perversion, will all the Muslim countries
join together to ruthlessly eliminate them?

2014 saw a number of
uplifting stories, but unfortunately, we also saw the dark side of humanity
rearing its ugly head too many times.The
dastardly attack by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTK) on a school in Peshawar was
most gruesome terror attacks on schools through the years. The Pakistani Taliban brutally slaughtered around 141
people, out of which 132 of them were school children on
December 16, 2014. The scale of what has
happened in Pakistan simply defies belief. Some
of the disturbing pictures of the school massacre by Taliban have been
circulated on WhatsApp.

The Taliban ruthlessly gunned down dozens of children. It has also been
reported that most of the kids were shot in their head and many of their bodies
were mutilated.

The gruesome attack
on innocent children has shaken up something in each one of us. If not,
there is something inherently wrong with us. And that's precisely the point
noted lyricist Prasoon Joshi, so beautifully drives home in his heart-breaking
poem, which was published in one
of India’s leading newspapers: Hindustan Times. Original poem is in the Hindi which
is being translated into English.[1]

(If humankind can still stand straight with its
head held highKnow that something is wrong.)

People often demand freedom of
expression, but when the testing time comes, very few have the courage to stand
up tall and speak against the evil. Thank you Prasoon Joshi for speaking out loud and
clear thru poem. He is emphasizing that let’s not let this black day in
the history of humankind melt into oblivion. Let's not be resilient as always.
“It’s the time of thoughts, not mourning. It’s the time of
questions, not gloom”. So what can be done? What poem is conveying that all good
hearted people in the world should unite to fight this evil?

Terrorism
in Pakistanhas become a major and highly destructive phenomenon in recent years. Former President Zardri, along with
other top leaders has admitted that terrorist outfits were "deliberately
created and nurtured" by past governments "as a policy to achieve
some short-term tactical objectives". The trend began with Zia-ul-Haq’s controversial
"Islamization” policies of the 1980s. His tenure as the president saw
Pakistan's involvement in the Soviet-Afghan War, which led to a greater influx
of ideologically driven Muslims (Mujahideen) to the western front and increased availability of guns and
drugs. Most of the mujahideen were never disarmed after the war ended in
Afghanistan and some of these groups were later activated at the behest of
Pakistan and its ISI (Inter-service Intelligence) in the form of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Tehrik-i-Taliban
Pakistan among others. These groups are now taking on the State itself, making
the biggest threat to it and the people of Pakistan.
These terrorist groups haveprogressively increased their hold on Pakistan which has led the
country to total anarchy.

Whether
the Peshawar massacre will be a game changer for Pakistan? The
Post-Peshawar Pakistan appears a different country. Never before has the
consensus against the militants and their apologists — among the politicians,
judiciary, media, and within the military — been so pronounced. Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif said after the attack that there is a "changed Pakistan"
since the tragedy and that there would be "no place for terrorism,
extremism, sectarianism and intolerance." For
now, Pakistanis are united in their revulsion for the Taliban and other
terrorist groups. But there is a fear that once the anger abates, and it will,
this grim milestone will be forgotten.

It
is argued that the Pakistani DNA cannot be changed. In fact, most US analysts
too held out bleak prospects of Pakistan revisiting its 'good terrorists, bad
terrorists' policy. There are people in Pakistan who directly and indirectly supported such
incident. People like Imran Khan may shout
Go Nawaz Go, but don't even want to say anything about Taliban.Imam Abdul Aziz of the Red Mosque refused to condemn the massacre of school
children. He said that the authorities
should focus on arresting people accused of “more serious crimes”.
Earlier this year, a school run by this cleric renamed its library in honour of
the former al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden.

At least for the souls of these 132 innocent,
youthful, fun-loving and energetic kids, I appeal all my Pakistani brothers and
sisters to unite and teach the government a lesson, and say to them they are
servants of people. Compel your government to clean up the seed of jihad that
was sown a generation ago. Ensure that Pak is a place for sensible people and
you can flourish. I don't want to name the good, the bad and the ugly
terrorists. They are terrorists because they kill people. Start a revolution
which is like a freedom struggle and make your place a heaven. People like me want
to see Swat, want to climb K2, and want to visit Muzaffarabad. But we can't do
with these rogues around. If you don’t awake, the State machinery will enslave
you for generations to be mute and helpless spectators. The Pakistan must decide whether to be under the heel
of criminals and Islamic fascists or not.

There are lots of Indians who want peace between both
the countries. But there are few guys at both the sides who are not letting the
thing happen. One has to recognize that the
Pakistani duplicity formula is a failure and they have paid the price. The
policy makers have miss-identified who the real enemy is, not India, but the
Taliban like terrorists within. If Pakistani
government is really serious, hang people who attacked anyone even Indians but
surprisingly, they want to bail to one of the person (Zakiur
Rehman Lakhvi) who was in Karachi room and was directing
terrorists of Mumbai attack, instructing them to kill as many as possible. Hafiz Saeed, one of the world's most-wanted men, who
has a $10 million US bounty on his head since 2012, appears openly at rallies
in Pakistan, and frequently denounces India as a terrorist state. Earlier this
month, special trains were organized to ferry his supporters from Islamabad to
Lahore, a clear signal of his clout within the establishment. Pakistani
politicians tout him as the head of an Islamic charity which enjoys popular
support for its humanitarian work. What about Pakistan’s guest Dawood
Ibrahim and many others so called khalistanis? It
is comical to hear the PM of Pakistan talk of good and bad Taliban. Here one
must take seriously the advice given by the former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton: "You can't keep snakes in
your backyard and expect them to only bite your neighbors”.

If Pakistan wants to survive and
develop itself as a progressive and developed nation, it must do some thing
what Lyrist Joshi noted: “Shok nahin soch ka waqt hai, Matam nahin sawalon ka waqt hai”. What
he is saying that this isn't the time
to grieve, it is the time to think; this isn't the time to mourn, it is the
time to questions and action. Pakistanis must recognize
and declared that the real threat to their country comes from within not from
India. It comes from the organizations like TTP, Al-QAEDA, LASHKAR-E-TAIBA,
etc and dishonest politicians and some army personnel who are dependably
undependable about their resolve against terrorists.

I appeal all my Pakistani
brothers and sisters that all of you unite, teach the government a lesson, and
say to them they are servants of people. Compel your government and Army to
clean up the seed of jihad that was sown a generation ago. Ensure that Pak is a
place for sensible people and you can flourish. I don't want to name the good,
the bad and the ugly terrorists. They are terrorists because they kill people.
Start a revolution which is like a freedom struggle and make your place a
heaven. One has to recognize
terrorists do not represent Islam - a religion of peace, tolerance and mercy. However, due to their actions Islam is in danger. My Muslim car mechanic who lives in
a crowded lower middle class locality in Jaipur told me “I am not shy in saying that I am
better off living with (so called) non Muslims than these barbaric (so called)
Muslims. Anti-Muslim protests or racism and xenophobia are
steadily growing in Europe and elsewhere. Further,
the Pakistani intellectuals have to work closely with the
Muslim leaders to condemn those efforts to radicalise individuals, and to be
clear about what the tenets of Islam actually are. Recently, Egypt's presidentAbdel Fattah el-Sisi opened the new year with
a call for a "revolution'' in Islam to
reform interpretations of the faith entrenched for hundreds of years, which he
said have made the Muslim world a source of "destruction'' and pitted it
against the rest of the world.

A Turning point has to come
in the life of every nation! It has come to Pakistan through the attack on the
Army School & the senseless killing of 132 children! I hope the Taliban baby killers have their answer
soon. Pakistan must surely, surely rise up now and have a totally new and
ruthless strategy to eliminate these terrorist organizations. And that would
perhaps be the best New Year gift for the entire world including the citizens
of Pakistan and India.

[1]The staff writer at ScoopWhoop has translated the poem in
English for wider circulation. See at : http://www.scoopwhoop.com/news/prasoon-writes/